Targeted gene disruption with engineered zinc-finger nucleases (ZFNs)

Abstract

Reverse genetics in Xenopus has been limited to knockdown strategies using antisense morpholino oligonucleotides (MOs). Recently, engineered zinc-finger nucleases have been used to induce targeted mutations resulting in null alleles. Zinc-finger nuclease (ZFN) technology has been adapted to induce null mutations in many systems previously refractory to targeted gene inactivation. Here we provide a general protocol for inducing targeted mutations in Xenopus tropicalis using ZFNs, a method to detect resulting mutations, and the steps to generate homozygous mutant embryos.